How old must a child be before I can condition his shins?

I am scared to stunt his growth so I am very scared to condition a childs shins too early

Even though Thailand kids do it from age 7 and 8, look how tall they get.

 

I wouldn't condition a child's shins at all. I'd say 16 is the minimum, 18 being better.

 

WHY do you want to condition a child's shins?

 

I would have to agree with Kuma 100%

when the child is 16 or 18 it can be considered...but conditioning bones in the wrong way...can very well lead to injury and you want the shins to last a life time, a few years alone wont do much good if they are knacked from a possible rushed training, over training...many things...they wont be much good and years dont the line, they would have been better without any training at all

 

Ok thats what I thought. I dont want to stunt the childs growth by copying the thais way of life

 

I am pretty sure I read a paper a few years ago in the British Medical Journal or maybe the New England Journal of Medicine, which linked bone conditioning reigemes with an increased incidence of bone cancer ( Osteosarcoma) ( I believe the epidemiology data used compared thai boxers to the normal population).

I will try and find the reference and any followup papers tomorrow if I have time.

 

I dont think its nessarly the thai's way of life that is the problem

...you have to remember the people in thai land, for many this actually is there full time job and profession at a very young age, and they are in most cases going to be taught by someone who has had the same experience and has done it and lived that way of life, and has understood it 3/4 of there live

its not that they are doing everything wrong...but the people teaching these children would have an amasing amount of experience and knowledge

In the end its also that im not saying you dont know your stuff at all also so dont take offence please to what im saying...

but personally i think it would be best left until the child is an older age...the risk of messing oneself up, and how easy it is to do something wrong is high enough without the effects of possible damage being long term...

just thinking the benifits of waiting outweigh the risks of doing it now (my opinion on the matter anyway)

 

Thai's conditioning their shins via heavy bag kicking has absolutely nothing to do with their size/height. The human body doesn't work that way.

I'd have to ask why on earth you are wanting condition your kids shins anyhow. I'm sure the child will want a say in how he prefers to spend his time. Sorry but this sounds like the father visiting his issues on his children.

I'd suggest you sit down and start studying how the human skeletal system works. In particular the way bone responds to the stresses placed on it. When you do you will want to pay close attention to the types of training your child is doing in connection with their proximity to their pre and post-pubescence.

 

Please post a link to this supposed study... because this doesn't sound very plausible. In fact it sounds absurd.

 

Hmm im not getting it.

I just want my child to have the same advantage in muay thai as a kid in thailand. But if the bone conditioning too early (of course on a heavy bag) is bad then I will stick to teqniques and stretching for karate/TKD kicks

 

If that's the angle... then you might want to consider the bigger picture. Kids in Thailand do well in Muay Thai for a lot of reasons. A lof of them beyond shin conditioning. Culture plays a massive part. Poverty is another huge factor. Often they are shaped into great fighters from a young age because they are hungry. They want more than the tin shack with dirt floors that they are born with and realize they have a chance to get out by fighting.

No harm in letting kids kick the heavy bag. But if you're going to put them on some super-hardcore training regime trying to match that of poverty stricken kids from Isaan then I think it's a bit of blinkered thinking.

How old is the kid? What does he want to do?

 

He is still a newborn no where near 8-10 years old yet, I am just thinking ahead for the future.

I appreciate the help. I never meant to put him on anything hardcore just some heavy bag and stretch excercises to teach him how to kick.

I dont beleive in sending a kid to a martial arts school I learned that it turns off some of them from the whole martial arts world. I think its more personal if his own father teaches him the art , its like passing my knowledge on to him.

 

Just because it's his own father teaching him, don't necessarily expect it to make him more attached to martial arts. You might be best going with him to a school so that you can train together, making it a shared activity. You're more likely to get him enjoying it then, and you can still train with him at home.

If you're a good teacher already, and you've got experience working with young children, then you might be able to get away with it - but the social aspect of a school is still more likely to interest him as he gets older.

Bone conditioning is a bad thing in general - some heavy bag work won't hurt, but any of the more ridiculous methods (rolling pins down the shins for example) should really be avoided.

 

It's possible but so is an increased risk from any other sport involving impact. Possible but unproven.

http://www.aanos.org/epidemiologyboneca.html

 

not quite. bone conditioning is good. stupid crap that doesn't actually condition your bones is not. there is quite a difference in methodology from one to the other.

 

Yeah man all good stuff to think about. Usually kids simply given exposure to any sort of physical activity will give it a go. They gravitate towards movement like that. That's the beauty of kids... they will try to instantly emulate what they see... I've yet to see a kid go by the gym who didn't immediately want to at least have a go on the heavy bag.

Physical activity of any type is generally good for kids. The body responds well to the stimulation and the stress. When kids are active physically at a young age they improve their bone density and that will determine much of it for the rest of their lives. This is why kids need to be outdoor and playing or in some form of sport/physical activity.

 

No offense, but haven't you just been training in Muay Thai for over a year now? I wouldn't consider teaching anyone just yet.

Let kids be kids. My son's still young but he already gets a kick out of seeing me train, so if he wants to once he's old enough I'll let him. I'm not going to force him into it though. As a kid I was forced into doing a lot of things I didn't want to do, and to this day I'm still a bit resentful about some things.

 

It was not a study it was a paper based on epidemiology records comparing the rates of bone cancers between the normal thai population and the thai boxers who did shin conditioning. Once I am at home I will do a journal search to find the reference.

 

Thanks. I'd be greatly interested to see what they have to say. To my knowledge there are no studies that use Thai boxers for this type of study.

 

No problem, I would like to find the reference and see how they came to the conclusion and whether their research was "flawed" or has since been discredited or proven.

As soon as I find everything I will post it for all to see (assuming I can find the reference and that I didnt imagine this )